SuccessFactors Authenticate an Element Instance

You can authenticate with SuccessFactors to create your own instance of the SuccessFactors element through the UI or through APIs. Once authenticated, you can use the element instance to access the different functionality offered by the SuccessFactors platform.

Authenticate Through the UI

Use the UI to authenticate with SuccessFactors and create an element instance as described in Authenticate an Element Instance (UI). You will need the credentials that specified in API Provider Setup.

After successfully authenticating, we give you several options for next steps. Make requests using the API docs associated with the instance, map the instance to a virtual data resource, or use it in a formula template.

Authenticate Through API

Send a request to our /instances endpoint to authenticate an element instance. When finished note the token and id.

To authenticate an element instance:

  1. Construct a JSON body as shown below (see Parameters):

    {
      "element": {
        "key": "successfactors"
      },
      "configuration": {
        "hostname": "<Host Name>",
        "companyid": "<Company ID>",
        "username": "<SuccessFactors account user name>",
        "password": "<SuccessFactors account password>",
      },
      "tags": [
        "<Add_Your_Tag>"
      ],
      "name": "<INSTANCE_NAME>"
    }
  2. Call the following, including the JSON body you constructed in the previous step:

    POST /instances
    Note: Make sure that you include the User and Organization keys in the header. See the Overview for details.
  3. Locate the token and id in the response and save them for all future requests using the element instance.

Example cURL

curl -X POST \
  https://api.cloud-elements.com/elements/api-v2/instances \
  -H 'authorization: User <USER_SECRET>, Organization <ORGANIZATION_SECRET>' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "element": {
    "key": "successfactors"
  },
  "configuration": {
    "hostname": "<Host Name>",
    "companyid": "<Company ID>",
    "username": "<SuccessFactors account user name>",
    "password": "<SuccessFactors account password>",
  },
  "tags": [
    "humancapital"
  ],
  "name": "API Instance"
}'

Parameters

API parameters not shown in Cloud Elements 2.0 are in code formatting.

Note: Event-related parameters are described in Events.
ParameterDescriptionData Type
keyThe element key
successfactors
string
Name
name
The name of the element instance created during authenticationstring
Host Name
hostname
The SuccessFactors API endpoint URL addressed in API Provider Setupstring
Company ID
companyid
Your SuccessFactors company ID addressed in API Provider Setupstring
User Name
username
Your SuccessFactors account user namestring
Password
password
Your SuccessFactors account passwordstring
tagsOptional. User-defined tags to further identify the instance.string

Example Response for an Authenticated Element Instance

In this example, the instance ID is 12345 and the instance token starts with "ABC/D...". The actual values returned to you will be unique: make sure you save them for future requests to this new instance.

{
  "id":12345,
  "name":"API Instance",
  "createdDate":"2018-05-25T15:56:22Z",
  "token":"ABC/Dxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=",
  "element":{
    "id":6315,
    "name":"SuccessFactors",
    "hookName":"SuccessFactors",
    "key":"successfactors",
    "description":"The API can be used to manipulate employee data and to generate reports in several formats.",
    "image":"elements/custom-element-default-logo.png",
    "active":false,
    "deleted":false,
    "typeOauth":false,
    "trialAccount":false,
    "resources":[  ],
    "transformationsEnabled":true,
    "bulkDownloadEnabled":true,
    "bulkUploadEnabled":true,
    "cloneable":true,
    "extendable":true,
    "beta":false,
    "authentication":{
      "type":"custom"
    },
    "extended":false,
    "useModelsForMetadata":true,
    "hub":"humancapital",
    "protocolType":"http",
    "parameters":[  ],
    "private":false
  },
  "elementId":3642,
  "tags":[
    "humancapital"
  ],
  "provisionInteractions":[

  ],
  "valid":true,
  "disabled":false,
  "maxCacheSize":0,
  "cacheTimeToLive":0,
  "configuration":{  },
  "eventsEnabled":true,
  "traceLoggingEnabled":false,
  "cachingEnabled":false,
  "externalAuthentication":"none",
  "user":{
    "id":123456,
    "emailAddress":"claude.elements@cloud-elements.com",
    "firstName":"Claude",
    "lastName":"Elements"
  }
}